


Growth Spurt

by FestiveFerret



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, Beards, Flirting, M/M, Post-High School, Reunions, School Reunion, Steve's Sexy Beard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-25
Updated: 2018-05-25
Packaged: 2019-05-13 12:42:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,785
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14749085
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FestiveFerret/pseuds/FestiveFerret
Summary: Tony: Remember that guy I had the hots for in high school that I was telling you about?Rhodey: The Steve guy? Yeah.Tony: He's here.Rhodey: Oh shit.Tony: He grew a beard.Rhodey: ...Rhodey: You're fucked.Tony: IKR.





	Growth Spurt

**Author's Note:**

> This is for my beard kink square for MCU bingo, but I went non-smutty with it :P Sorry.
> 
> Thanks to ashes0909 for beta!

"Is that -  _ Steve Rogers?"  _ Tony asked, leaning over the table to get a better look.

Pepper's hand landed on his shoulder to stop him from knocking over a stack of "Hello, My Name Is:" stickers. She followed Tony's line of sight then looked down at her clipboard. "Yeah, that's Steve Rogers."

"Wow," Tony said, and Pepper snickered. "He - uh - he grew a beard. Wow. It looks good."

Pepper snorted, louder this time. 

"What?" Tony turned to catch her giving him an incredulous look but before she could answer, a couple appeared next to the table, and she turned back to her clipboard.

"Jane Foster plus guest," the woman said, and Pepper ran her finger down the clipboard until she found the name. She checked it off.

Tony squirmed in his chair, his eyes darting across the crowded room to try and sneak more glances at Steve.

"Welcome to our five-year reunion!" Pepper said brightly. "Here's a name badge, and a pen, this coupon gets you two free drinks, and there's a raffle and a guessing game along the far wall there. Don't forget to sign the reunion yearbook!" 

The couple thanked her and wandered into the room. Tony rounded on her again. "What? The man grew a beard. It looks good. I'm… admiring."

"It's not the only thing he grew," she replied, with a pointed look.

"What do you mean?"

She rolled her eyes. "Tony. He may have spent the last month growing a beard, but he spent the last five years growing six inches and a hundred and twenty pounds of pure muscle."

Tony frowned and leaned forward again to get another look. Yeah, he was taller and his shoulders were broader, but, "We've all filled out since high school."

"True. But few of us have doubled."

Tony pouted and crossed his arms over his chest, leaning back in his chair. "I just like the beard, okay? I think it suits him."

"A garbage bag would suit that man."

"I'm going to get a drink," Tony said.

Pepper smiled sweetly at him. "Use protection."

Tony slipped across the room to the bar, ordered a ginger ale, then pulled his phone out. 

_ Tony: Remember that guy I had the hots for in high school that I was telling you about? _

_ Rhodey: The Steve guy? Yeah. _

_ Tony: He's here. _

_ Rhodey: Oh shit. _

_ Tony: He grew a beard. _

_ Rhodey: ... _

_ Rhodey: You're fucked. _

_ Tony: IKR. _

Tony's ginger ale arrived, and he slid a free drink chit across the bar, one off the stack he'd pilfered from Pepper's case when he helped her set up. He'd been here for hours before this thing started, he deserved free hydration all night. He looked up again, telling himself he was searching for old friends but knowing perfectly well that he was scanning for Steve again, and was startled to see the man in question walking across the decorated gym, headed straight for Tony.

Tony nearly fell off his barstool then hastily readjusted himself so he was draped attractively over it instead.

Steve walked straight past him without a glance and leaned over the bar to catch the bartender's attention. 

Well. That was a little… humiliating. Tony resisted the urge to catch the eye of the woman on the other side of them (who he was pretty sure had been in his AP Physics class) to see if she'd noticed. But this was the first time he'd seen Steve alone all night, and Tony would kill himself if he suffered through all of this tension and didn't even try to talk to the guy.

"Hey. You grew a beard," he said.  _ That was not a normal thing to say,  _ he chastised himself, but Steve was already turning to look at him.

He saw Steve's eyes rake over him then the lightbulb went off. "Tony? Tony Stark?"

Tony looked down at his name tag, which read, "You know who I am," and nodded. He pointed to it. "Yeah. Steve Rogers, right?" Steve wasn't wearing a nametag.

There was an odd moment where Steve looked almost surprised then amused. "Uh, yeah." He held a hand out to shake Tony's. "We had a few classes together, didn't we?"

"Yeah. Chemistry and AP Lit. You sat by the window." Tony bit himself off before he added, _ I spent all of twelfth grade wanting to stick my face to your face. _

Steve grinned. "And pre-Calc. You told Mr. Harper to 'suck it' once."

Tony grinned down into his glass. "Did I? I mean, I believe it. I still say things like that." He fluttered his eyelashes and looked up from under them, pleased to see a reaction in Steve. Steve was closer now, leaning one elbow on the counter, just enough into Tony's space that it could signal interest.

Steve opened his mouth, and if the gleam in his eye was anything to go on, something sassy was on its way out, but then a female voice came from behind them. "Captain?"

Steve spun around, face to face with three girls in progressively more revealing party dresses. 

"Oh my god, it is!" one squealed. 

"We didn't think you'd come to this," another said.

Tony didn't recognize any of them.

"Well," Steve said. "It's my alma mater…"

They giggled in unison. "Oh yeah, we just thought you'd be too busy. You know, with Captain America things."

Tony looked back down in his glass, frowning. Captain America? Where had heard that before?

"Found a break in training to come home for a bit," Steve said, a friendly smile pasted on. He reached for the piece of paper one girl was holding out and pulled a sharpie from his pocket. He asked their names then signed for each of them.

"Good luck this season! You guys are totally going to go all the way this year."

"Thank you."

Tony snapped his fingers. Football. Captain America - team captain for America's favourite team. The… somethings. He'd had no idea the sports star was his old high school crush. He didn't follow sports, but he'd caught the nickname on the news a few times. The girls all looked at Tony, and he stared, betrayed, at his attention-grabbing fingers. "Sorry. Just remembered I promised Pep a Coke. See ya later. Nice catching up, Steve."

Steve frowned, but didn't try and stop him as Tony ordered a Coke then ran off with it, headed back to Pepper's table. The majority of the guests seemed to be inside already, and Pepper smiled gratefully at Tony when he set the drink in her hand.

"How'd it go?" she asked.

"Mission abort. He seemed kinda into me but then these fangirls showed up, and I remembered that he's some kind of big sports guy now."

"What's wrong with that?"

Tony shrugged. "I don't follow sports. I don't know anything about him. Why would he want to talk to me when he has a whole room of adoring fans?"

Pepper didn't say anything, and Tony didn't look her way to see what kind of face she was making. Over the next hour, Tony tried his best to ignore Steve Rogers, even when Natasha offered to cover the table for Pepper for a while and she dragged Tony inside to dance. But Steve was constantly surrounded by a halo of chattering, blushing, adoring fans, and he was all smiles and flirty eyebrow raises, and even if Tony had the balls to go talk to him again, he wasn't going to get another opening. 

A few times, he thought Steve had been looking his way, but when Tony caught his eye, Steve's eyes flicked back to his entourage every time.

After four ginger ales, Tony was feeling solidly morose. He hadn't been looking forward to this thing in the first place, but now he was hopped up on sugar, Bruce was dancing with Pepper, and Steve was being unfairly beautiful in the corner.

It really was unfair.

He'd had really short hair in high school, but now it was longer, a little darker, and combed back from his face. His beard was full but carefully clipped to highlight his razor-sharp cheekbones. His bright, blue eyes glowed, even under the horribly unflattering fluorescent lights in the old gym. Tony wanted to do truly unconscionable things to that face. He wanted those eyes looking up from between his thighs. He wanted beard burn in new places. He wanted those blue eyes to flutter shut while those soft-looking, pink lips fell open.

Tony shook his head. It didn't matter; he wasn't going to be the one to take "Captain America" home tonight.

He looked over at Pepper and Bruce having a great time. They both had cars here; no one would notice if Tony left.

He downed the rest of his last drink and made his way over to the doors, stopping to say bye to a few old acquaintances that caught his eye on his way out.

The air outside was fresh and a bit damp, carrying the smell of freshly-mown grass and flowering trees. He'd liked this school, all in all. High school hadn't exactly been the best years of his life - thank god, he hoped those were still to come - but he'd had a good time, had good friends. Really, his only regret was not telling Steve how much he liked him back when he had the chance. Any chance.

"Tony?"

Tony spun around. He'd just been standing stupidly on the sidewalk, smelling his old hometown. "Steve?" There was a moment of dissonance, where he wondered if he'd summoned a hallucination with his memories, but no, Steve was really there.

Steve was standing, the door held open with one hand, leaning out of the pulsing bass-line of "Forever Young" to peer at Tony. "Oh, you're still here. I thought you were leaving." He was a little out of breath.

"Yeah. I mean, I am. I just… got a bit caught in nostalgia, I guess." He chuckled.

Steve smiled and let the door fall shut, taking the few steps out to join Tony properly. "I know what you mean. This was a good school, wasn't it?"

"It was."

"So um, what do you think of the beard?" Steve rubbed it self-consciously. "You just mentioned it earlier, and I haven't been sure if I should keep it or not."

"You should  _ definitely  _ keep it. Unless, of course, your goal is to not have everyone in a ten-mile radius drooling on your shoes."

"Oh." Steve looked stunned for a moment, then his smile fell off his face onto the sidewalk. He gestured behind him. "Kinda thought everyone would be cool here, actually. You know, back home." He sighed. "I was looking for a night off from being Captain America."

"Ah, sorry."

"You didn't um-" Steve seemed unable to finish the sentence.

Tony felt his cheeks heat. "Uhh, yeah, actually the lack of fawning isn't cause I'm super cool or something, it's because I didn't recognize you. I mean, I did. But as Steve Rogers whose head I used to stare at the back of in pre-Calc, not, you know, football superstar. Sorry."

"Oh." Steve didn't seem inclined to smile again. "Then you recognized me. When those girls came over. And you left."

"Um, yes?"

"Right." Steve's face twisted through several expressions before it schooled into polite disinterest. "Well, it was nice to see you again, Tony. See you at the ten-year thing." He turned towards the door.

"Wait." An urge to throw his cards on the table with reckless abandon filled Tony from head to toe, not because he thought he had a chance with this celebrity superstar, but because, for some reason, he felt like Steve needed to hear it. "I had a huge crush on you in high school."

Steve stilled but didn't turn back. "What?"

"I was totally gone for you. I'm pretty sure the reason I told Mr. Harper to suck it was because I was so distracted from staring at the back of your head that I decided to feign defiance over proving that I hadn't been paying attention. If I'd been the type to bring a notebook, I would have written Mrs. Tony Rogers all over it seven hundred times. I thought you were nice, and funny, and hot, and you had this whole fierce confidence thing that did it for me. So, yeah, when can you admit these things if not at your reunion, eh? Anyway, it really  _ was  _ good to see you again, I'm glad things are going well for you. Goodnight, Steve."

But Steve didn't walk away, he turned on his heel. "You had a crush on me back then? When I was small?"

Tony shrugged. "We were all small in high school."

Steve's smile reappeared. "I was  _ really  _ small." 

"You were cute. Still are. Though now you've got the whole -" Tony waved his hand in Steve's direction.

"Muscles?"

"Beard." Tony swallowed. "It's really, really working for me - you. Working for you. Keep it."

"Thanks, Tony." Steve took a few steps closer until he was properly in Tony's space. "It means a lot, to know someone was interested in me back then. I didn't date much until I discovered the gym, and football and, heh, protein, but now it seems like the people who want to be with me actually just want to be seen with me, you know?"

"Yeah, I get that."

"But you liked me back then."

"Yes."

"And, um, at the bar? Before you knew who I was, were you flirting with me?"

Tony grinned. "If that wasn't obvious, then I was doing a piss-poor job of it. Time to practice in the mirror again, I guess."

Steve's nerves shifted into laughter then back into nerves again. "So, I was, uh, wondering -" he played adorably with the sleeves of his sweater "- if maybe I could convince you to overlook the whole sports thing and maybe go get coffee with me?"

Tony gaped at him. "What?"

"I was flirting with you too."

"What do you mean by overlook the whole sports thing?"

Steve's brow twisted in confusion. "When you realized who I was, you left. I thought you weren't into sports. You didn't want to flirt with me anymore, you didn't come talk to me again."

Tony laughed then slapped a hand over his mouth when he realized how that would seem. "Oh no, Steve. I don't have a problem with it. You were just - so  _ busy.  _ So many people, amazing people, who wanted your time. I didn't want to waste any of it. I mean, you barely noticed me in high school, I didn't think you were interested."

"I did! I did. I remember you. I thought you were one of those cool, smart, untouchable kids who knew what a cigarette tasted like and got all A's without studying and went to your family cottage every summer or something. I didn't really know I liked guys back then, so if anything, I was more jealous of you than interested. But man, seeing you again tonight, it was like yeah, why didn't I see it five years ago? I thought I wanted to be you, but I think I'd rather be with you, actually."

Tony swallowed and forced himself not to look away from Steve's intense blue gaze. "And now you want to get coffee?"

"If you'd like to, only if you'd like to."

"Right now?"

"Yeah." Steve held up the jacket he had draped over his arm. "I came prepared in case you said yes."

Tony felt a huge grin split his face. He reached out and hooked his finger in the gap between buttons on Steve's shirt and used it to draw the other man in close. "Actually… do you remember the little ice cream place down on Park Street?"

Steve leaned into the touch. "The Cherry Bomb? Course I do."

"Do you think they're still in business?"

"I think so. You want to find out?"

"I do." 

Steve beamed. It was the same smile that kid in math class had shot Tony when he'd mouthed off to the teacher. A little awed, Tony could see it now. "Let me buy you an ice cream, Tony Stark."

"Okay." Tony leaned in, the tension deliciously palpable between them now. He ran his thumb along the edge of Steve's jaw, feeling the rough scratch of his hair. "Hey Steve?"

"Yeah?" he breathed, eyes fixed on Tony's mouth.

"If I buy you an ice cream back, do you think I could lick it out of this beard? If I'm very, very good."

"Shit," Steve gasped."You don't even have to be good." He grabbed Tony's hand and started dragging him down the street, laughing.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! You can follow me on tumblr at festiveferret.tumblr.com <3


End file.
